... Florida has a MAJOR primary vote on Tuesday ... and voting is obviously super-important especially in a state that's been known to swing ... and this election will set the stage for how quickly we can deal with the national crisis that is on the horizon ... which is why I'm so disappointed to have walked away from having watched the governor debates recently with an overwhelming feeling of "meh" (as cool kids and kittens have been known to say).
On the Republican side, it's basically a two man race (and that's "man" as is "only men") -- between a Trump-polyp named DeSantis and a more traditional swampy candidate named Putnam (where "traditional" means "owned by the sugar industry" in this state [allegedly]).
With the Democrats, it's a five person race ("person" since they've seen the future and let a woman into the mix), and as much as I wanted to get excited about one or more of them, their respective debate performances left me generally uninspired. Billionaire King (a young [rich] buck who seems to be all over the Facebook) is simply too green ... and billionaire Greene is also too "Greene" (meaning that, for someone who has two messages -- "I'm the only one who will stand up to Trump" and "anything and everything negative about anyone else who is running" -- he's coning across as just another rich guy who is all about *himself* and whose main focus seems to be money [just a like a certain golden-shower-coiffed politician wreaking havoc nationwide]).
Billionaire Levine is too urban (being mostly known for his running of things in Miami, where he cultivated a reputation as a city-slicker "fast and dirty" politician (which isn't playing well in a year when there's still a tremendous amount of "fast and dirty politician" fatigue, not to mention the fact that Florida is very much a city mouse/country mouse electorate where the reputation of city-slickers may go before them in a negative way) and (the only non-billionaire) Gillum is too "urban" (yes, the Democrats have a woman AND an African American running -- although if MTV's 'Floribama Shore' has taught us nothing else, it's that there are a tremendous amount of rednecks all throughout Florida who still don't like it when young black kids spring break in the bars with the crackers and who still haven't gotten over Obama's two presidential terms). Finally, billionaire Graham, (the aforementioned woman!) who was someone I *thought* I might be able to get behind, is horrible at debates (definitely -- NOT allegedly) and is coming across in every opportunity as an inauthentic campaigner.
Or -- in a nutshell -- "meh" (times five). Is it too much to ask for exciting candidates?!?
[Disclaimer: despite the overall "meh"ness, I will discharge my democratic duty by voting in the primary -- as should you if you are a Florida resident eligible to vote. To that end, stop back on Monday night for my official "endorsements".]
ALL EYES WILL BE ON FLORIDA THIS TUESDAY (AND AGAIN IN NOVEMBER):
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/8/24/17772818/florida-primary-elections-2018-governor-desantis-putnam-graham
ALL ABOUT THE FLORIDA DEMOCRATIC PRIMARIES FOR TUESDAY:
https://ballotpedia.org/Democratic_Party_primaries_in_Florida,_2018
ALL ABOUT THE FLORIDA REPUBLICAN PRIMARIES FOR TUESDAY:
https://ballotpedia.org/Republican_Party_primaries_in_Florida,_2018
